The best and most important players in the NRL are often spine players.

All of the top teams have a number of excellent players in the spine, and the Dally M Medal count was dominated by spine players in 2021.

While fullback Tom Trbojevic won it, the top five was made up of halves Nathan Cleary, Cody Walker and Daly Cherry-Evans, while another fullback rounded it out with James Tedesco finishing fifth.

All of those players are at the peak of their powers, and their teams made up those going deep into the finals.

There could be a change a foot for 2022 though, with a few bottom-eight teams from 2021 appearing in the top eight of this list.

Yesterday, we ran through the bottom eight spines in the competition, and now, it's time for the top eight.

Here is the list.

4. South Sydney Rabbitohs

Latrell Mitchell, Cody Walker, Lachlan Ilias, Damien Cook

With Latrell Mitchell currently suspended, he won’t play Round 1 but will play the rest of the season for the Rabbitohs.

Losing club captain, goalkicker and game manager Reynolds will be tough on the Rabbitohs, but with such a stacked representative-quality side, they are still primed for September action.

It remains to be seen what Jason Demetriou brings to this Bunnies side, but Mitchell and Cody Walker’s sheer weight of points created down the left side ensure that the Bunnies shouldn’t have too many problems scoring.

The best thing for Ilias is for him to take a back seat in attack, kick well and make tackles, and continue to develop as he gains experience.

Damien Cook will continue to be Damien Cook, and his partnership with Cameron Murray through the middle will only improve in 2023. Losing Reynolds, Benji Marshall and Joshua Cook, they may struggle for depth around the Origin period.